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July 12, 2000 

COLOMBO (AP) - Sri Lanka's largest nationalist party on Tuesday accused the government and main opposition of conspiracy to divide the country in the guise of trying to end the 17-year civil war.

If the stand of the Sinhalese Heritage party gets support from the powerful Buddhist clergy, it could derail the government's plan to pass a new constitution giving regions more power.

The draft constitution, to be submitted to Parliament before the session ends Aug. 24, would give local control to areas where the Tamil minority predominate. Since 1983, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam guerrillas have been fighting for a separate state in a war that has killed more than 62,000.

The secretary of Sinhalese Heritage, Tilak Karunaratne, accused the People's Alliance government and the main opposition United National Party of keeping the public uninformed about the proposed constitutional changes.

The government is offering limited autonomy in hopes that it will be accepted by the moderates and eventually sideline the rebels.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga met with moderate Tamil politicians on Monday. Most of them were unhappy that the plan calls for Sri Lanka to remain a unitary state, rather than switching to a federal system. They also opposed a proposed referendum for Tamil areas to decide whether they would remain within Sri Lanka.

Karunaratne said in a statement made available to The Associated Press on Tuesday that "the end result of the conspiracy between the PA and the UNP to abdicate the powers of the Parliament and divide this country is being communicated only to the racist Tamil parties ..."

Sinhalese Heritage was formed this year to campaign for the Sinhalese ethnic group, who comprise 76 percent of Sri Lanka's 18.6 million people. The party has picked up support and been endorsed by monks who wield tremendous influence in the Buddhist majority country.

"Whether the PA and the UNP like it or not, our constitution provides that sovereignty lies with the entire people of this country," Karunaratne said, demanding that the proposals be made public.

Details of the draft constitution, which deals with land, regional boundaries, security and division of powers between the national and regional governments, have not been made public.